All Forum Posts by: Katie DuPree

Hi! Trying to get my very first LTR filled. I have a section 8 applicant who has submitted an application, and we are waiting on the city of Joliet to inspect our property. However, I am not sure what we will be offered for rent and the tenant's application was not the greatest either. They currently have no proof of actually being able to pay the deposit (I know this is based on the rent but the account literally has $0.00 in it). And I'm really not even sure how to verify their income because I'm not sure how much of the rent they are responsible for yet.

My question is, let's say I have a perfectly qualified non section 8 Applicant make it through the entire process and submit a deposit to hold before the section 8 applicant gets all the appropriate documentation submitted. Is this allowed? I haven't seen anything saying it's not but this is my first time doing any of this and I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right. Thanks for your wisdom in advance!  

@Jennifer Marcucci Haven't had a chance to do one yet as this is my second job and I've been out of the country for work on the primary job. I recently condensed the pre-qual questions into one screen and only like 15 fields/questions total (more reading but less clicks). I also updated our initial contact letter to explain that it's in their best interest for us to do the pre-qualification so inquiries don't waste time or money driving out to the property and/or completing an application when they won't qualify anyway. I think part of it was time of year bc I am seeing overall more inquiries and after the form revamp, slightly more completions. Actually, yesterday we had a somewhat promising section 8 inquiry want to apply. So, now we are barreling down that process as we had not originally thought we'd be going that route and I am trying to figure out how/what sources I'm allowed to use to verify their income.  

Thank you for posting this. I am having the exact same issue right now. We will have to try an open house. 

@Andrew Holmes Thank you for sharing this--extremely helpful. Do you mind sharing who is your eviction attorney? Do they also review leases? I am getting started and looking for someone to review my lease and have an established relationship in case I need them later.  

I am admittedly a newb in the process of getting all of this set up for my first rental (so correct me if I'm wrong) as well but I have some IL-specific perspective to offer: From what I have read, as of 1 Jan 2024 in IL, landlords cannot exclusively accept EFT payment of rents (includes Venmo, Zelle, etc.) for leases starting on or after that date. This effectively means tenants can pay cash if the lease doesn't explicitly state otherwise. For this reason, I do like the idea of having a bank with many branches and the tenant just deposits at their closest branch. Also, lost/stolen USPS money orders can take up to 30 days to verify as stolen--gulp! I am still going to offer mailing to the PO Box as an option though in case tenants would prefer to mail the rent. Never hurts to have options, I suppose?